Start of Primary school

Wow! Been so long since I posted!

Since then IZ turned 6 in Dec and started primary school too!

Life got so busy the first two weeks, I felt really overwhelmed (with new routine and information overloaded). Didn't help that I had to go for a short business trip on the 2nd week of school.

Before my memory fails me more, here's bits and pieces of the past 3 weeks.

Something to be thankful of, IZ enjoys the start of his primary school, and look forward to going to school everyday, including weekend. He would countdown to Monday on Saturday morning when he woke up. (While deep inside, I was like, Monday please don't come! - already Mon-bluish on Saturday)

4th week into P1, he's grown as a person.

Having helper since he was born, he (and I'm guilty as well) is completely reliant on others for EVERY LITTLE THING.

He's more independent now. We forced onto him to learn to clean up after himself after pooping. He carries his plate or cup when he's done with his meals. Brush teeth on his own.

I've also taught him to pack his school bag from Day 0. I wrote a list of things to pack, and since then he has never looked back. He took it upon himself to pack storybooks for his silent reading too (odd week Chinese, even week English). Well, he lost a Chinese storybook, and he felt upset about it. I felt heartache. :-( But this is the growing journey, I hope he would learn to take care of his belongings real soon.

There was one day he came home without any books nor his water bottle. He left everything underneath his desk. I am not sure what he was thinking about either. And that was the day he had the 1st school homework. I asked him to confess to his teacher the next day, and face the music himself. Surprisingly, the teacher was very nice about it, and told him she'd give him only one chance, the next time he forgets, he'll get marks deducted. Sigh.. I was hoping for something more severe. I wonder if he knows what's marks deduction means. :-D

Buying food has been fun for him. He enjoys spending money in the canteen. The fun of buying a bottled drink from vending machine, the power to purchase a sandwich in the canteen. He decided he eats too slowly (or maybe he's been chanted way too many a times that he's convinced he couldn't eat any faster), that he chose not to buy noodles nor rice. He opts for sandwiches, cakes or buns for lunch.

First day, he bought Yakult and a pandan sponge cake.
And subsequently alternate between pandan sponge cake and sandwiches.

Worried he wouldn't get enough nutrients, I decided to pack recess box for him. Of which, he gave me a schedule in return, to pack on Tuesdays and Fridays, and give him pocket money on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Now we fall into routine, which sometimes screwed, most of the times worked for us:

Morning:
Wake-up: This is difficult, it's not easy for the kiddo to wake up at 6am. So the first 3 weeks, we had to rush like mad. This week onwards, he wakes up at 5.45am. Makes everyone's life easier.
Breakfast: a cup of milk with sometimes biscuits or bread or pau.
Shower: Warmed up after breakfast, he takes a quick shower to freshen up. I believe morning shower makes a difference on how he looks (fresh or not). Haha!
School bus: pick-up from downstairs everyday.

Afternoon:
Depending on which day of the week, the school timing is not the same everyday:
Shower: first thing to do is shower after cooling down
Lunch: first proper meal for the day
School Homework / Spelling Practice* / Mom's Homework** / Violin Practice / iPad / Play: all these in no particular order as he prefers, but priority is for school homework, he has to finish them before I come home for the day.
Playground / Lessons: We are dropping all the weekday classes (drawing, violin X 2) so that he can play more. Starting Feb, he'll only have 1 lesson on weekday which is CHINESE! We cannot afford to give up Chinese!

Evening:
Violin practice: if there's no lesson for the day
Spelling / Revision: if there's time left
Packing of school bag
Reading
Bedtime by 9pm (sometimes he'll knock out straight.. sometimes exasperatingly, he'd roll till 9.30pm)

*I make him responsible for his own spelling. He'll plan for himself on how many and when he would learn to spell the words in the Spelling list given by the teacher. Then he'll ask helper to test him. When I get home, he'll get me to test him. I find this way works for him, I do not have to sit down to work on it in the evenings, and focus on revising what teacher has taught for the day / week instead.

**Mom's Homework means homework dictated by ME, the MOM (not Ministry of Manpower). I put aside some workbooks including Word Search, copying of Chinese sentences, Maths work for him to do on days he doesn't have any school homework. I have been doing this for the past few months, he's been doing the work diligently. I think this is really important to start from young age so they take it as part of their daily routine.

Weekend:
Cartoon
Orchestra practice
iPad
Revision
Play
Swimming lesson : on Sunday
Movie night
Sharpening colour pencils / pencils
Reading
Bedtime

Learning Progress

I was away for 11 days.. one of the longest since I could hold proper conversations with IZ.

He told me he missed me, and asked for video call on the 2nd week. Something he has never done before. And he also talked to me properly on the 3 times video conference we had during the trip.

I was really impressed, when I reached home, of how he has progressed over the last 11 days. There were a pang of disappointment that I was not around during the progress, but I strongly believe it is for our good.

I came back re-charge, and have better patience, for now (2nd day home).

English Spelling

So while I was away, school gave a notice that they will be holding spelling English and Chinese on alternate week basis. I felt sad I was not around to practise with him for the very first spelling he would have in his life.

The words were: people, that, from, with

I was surprised really. I was expecting something easier for the first one. But he did it.

Chinese Spelling

Also known as Ting Xie. I can't tell you how surprised I was to see the list of words.

I was certainly expecting words like "wo", "ni", "ba ba" or "ma ma" or that sort.

I couldn't even read 2 out of 3 that were listed for the first spelling. Hahaha!

But I decided I can't contaminate and influence IZ on Chinese. I decided to charge my Creative tablet once again and try to use it.

IZ knows the hang of it. He can even write properly, I nearly cried.

He's so much better in Chinese compared to his mummy.

Music

Edvox teacher told daddy the previous books were too easy for IZ. So she personally chose this Grade 2 book. 

I took a look at the book. It's boring and not easy. But I also know kids do wonders. You can throw anything at them and they can take it.

2 days ago, he told me he wanted to learn piano. He said violin is too difficult. I told him I'll teach him some at home. He asked me to put dots on the keyboard coz that's what KDL do.

Word Search Adventure

A friend of mine told us (when we visited them in Melbourne earlier this year) she started her first born on Word Search because she couldn't focus. What started out to be a form of method to polish her concentration, now becomes a leisure hobby.

I got the Jumbo Word Search for her, and then my friend pointed that I've already bought her the very same book when we met in KL.

So, the book is kinda "owner-less". I believe I could make use of it, but I pretty much prefer Sudoku anytime, thanks.

IZ, like many children his age, is not able to focus on a task for long (except for his drawing and every 3 days iPad sessions). I decided to let him try.

Boy, it was not easy. The first time I brought out the book (few months ago), I quickly kept it again, before my BP start rising and scared IZ out of his skin. He had absolutely no clue what it was all about and had difficulty "reading" diagonally or reversed for that matter.

Few weeks ago, I brought it out again. I observed that he could read more words now. At least he tries. Thanks Kinderland, Thanks Phonics.

This time round, I am amazed. He now knows what is diagonal. He has tons to work on his concentration span, but I feel we are on the right path.

Other than searching for words, he actually learns spelling as well as some general information too.

For eg: Asian countries - he roughly know the countries by looking at the words (oh well, of course he can't spell them) ;-)

1st Topic - Asian Countries

Sweet Tooth

He is currently working on "I want to be...."

PS: Of course he didn't finish one whole page everyday! I asked for 2-3 words a day, so I can work on my Sudoku for that 10mins just for fun! But I believe he can slowly find them quicker, and by next year he probably can finish one page on one day. I can't wait, I hope he likes words or numbers related games, just like me!

Updated on 21st Dec'15:

Completed!

Updated on 30th Dec'15:

Another one

Updated on 3rd Jan'16:

Updated on 26th Jan'16:

Preparing for K2..

I can't believe we came back from our vacation for more than a week already. I love going on a holiday with IZ and the dad. Living with MIL (and a helper), we basically do not have much privacy. Living together in a small hotel room or a small apartment, helps a lot in our family bonding. Which is why, I'll continue and insist on our family vacation, regardless how near or how far the location is.

And the school holiday has started since last Friday. I've told IZ that we'll have to start a routine, doing more "homework", learn how to spell (as there'll be spelling test for both Chinese and English starting K2), learn more about Maths etc.

All these because IZ buddy's mom told me that it's probably time to put more effort on his studies, build up his foundation, and do more Math as IZ shows interest in Math. She's so kind hearted to give me a pointer. Or otherwise I'll probably still taking it easy till it's too late.

So we started doing some simple work on Sunday. I'm determined to make this a routine so that he doesn't find it a chore. I'll have to work on my patience and the way I do work with him. Definitely a long way to go.

My list would go: violin practice, English, Math, Science.. (see the priority?)

There's something else I would like him to do. To be able to focus. It's really not easy to get this almost 5yo to focus on something. Out came an idea from our fellow friend whose 1st daughter benefited from Word Search.

And so our journey began..

First attempt at Word Search

Not bad for a start!

While he's working on his assessments, I do my Sudoku
It's a perfect win-win situation

Of course, I included some fun time too

Including card games..
They are ancient, aren't they?!

and UNO!

The Solar System

To make use of The Solar System book I bought for years, I started reading to him last week. The same book every night, and he really enjoyed it.

Then I thought of activities (because of reminder to self: create more fun learning) for Solar System, and then mind mapping came into my mind. I'm not exactly a person for mind mapping, but for his age and his interest, I guess drawing it out will be the best.

While I read, I described, he put it in illustration.

We also went through the way to remember "My Very Energetic Mother Just Serves Us Noodles". We learnt not just the Solar System, but spelling/phonics too!

Very serious at work

He said he wants to display and show his Serangoon friends
that his mommy taught him Solar System.

I also let him watch YouTube on Solar System, and I guess he really benefited from it.

Last night he went "Jupiter is made of gas". I couldn't remember.

Then he started singing "I am a giant gas" in the manner of the YouTube song.

The dad randomly uttered a question "how many moon does Jupiter has?" IZ answered 60 (that's according to the book anyway). Looks like Jupiter now has at least 63 moons. How ah?

Edited on 16th Sep'15:

He captioned "I'm cold"
as it can be very hot in Mercury, and it can be very cold too

He captioned "mmm nice" on Earth
the only planet with living things

He captioned "why I have so many volcanoes on myself"
for Venus who has many crates

Spot the Difference!

IZ got this Christmas last year from gift exchange (if I remember correctly.. see what have I said about my memory?)..

We started doing Spot the Difference in National Geographic for Kids way before we received this gift. He was not interested.

Starting beginning of this year, after doing it a few times more.. he got the hang of it. Now he enjoys doing it randomly so much that he would bring it to me instead.

Instead of circling (which I know he would do well), I asked him to describe instead.

In the beginning: "I don't know!"

Then: "this one have this and this one don't have this" (pointing to the difference)

For now: "this one have a small butterfly, this one don't have"

I'm still working on the steps..

1) describe what he sees (this one will take time, as he would straight jump into pointing the differences)

2) describe the differences (pointing out colours, sizes, etc)

3) praise.. and lots of praises!

As you can see, it's not just about observing what is the difference.

1) He learnt to pause for a few seconds, looking at the pictures. 

2) He learnt to describe what he sees in general.

3) He learnt to spot the difference.

4) He learnt to describe the differences he spotted.

3 levels of difficulties..
Green - 1 difference
Orange - 2 differences
Red - 3 differences

This one (as he pointed to the card on the right) is ice cream on a crunchy.
This one (as he pointed to the card on the left) is ice cream on a stick.

Initially we did about 5 sets.. I stopped before he wants to stop.
Then I increased to half the stack.. I stopped before he wants to stop.
Now he can complete about 75%.. I stopped before he wants to stop.
The key is not to bore him.. take clue from his body language and attention span.

Slowly, but surely, he'll be there.

Lesson Z for Zebra: 26th May'14

Home lessons

Waking up this morning..

IZ:  Mommy, I don't want to go to school
Me: But why?
IZ: I don't want to go for lesson
Me: you don't want to go for lesson
IZ: yes, i don't want to go for lesson in school
Me: you don't want to go for lesson in school
IZ: yes, i don't want to learn ABC
Me: you don't want to learn ABC
IZ: yes, i only want to learn letter Y
Me: oh, so who you want to learn letter Y from?
IZ: YOU!

Home lessons yield some result eh?

O for Octopus/Orange: 4th May'14

O Items!

O - OCTOPUS!

Writing O

O Craft

Looks more like mustache than Octopus eh?

Cutie pie

Painting Orange

He drew and painted himself
Talking when he was painting that art teacher taught him to paint on the line first and paint
within the lines

He asked to draw and paint an apple

Letter S for Snake: 10th Apr'14

He asked for lesson again and again, I didn't prepare anything else but I kept the letter S items aside, so it came handy.

Hubby said it is good that IZ asks for lesson so often, which means it's interesting for him.

I hope so too, but sometimes, on impromptu, it's not easy to create a lesson eh?

Nevertheless, I did whatever flows into my mind.

Showing him how python coils on people to break their bones :-D

Hands and eyes co-ordination

He did alternate colours
(I didn't tell him to)

Kiss the snake!

Showing him how python swallows its victim
Crocodile for this one

Letter S for Star: 7th Apr'14

S Items

Letter I for Ice Cream: 1st Apr'14

Tracing letter - he wrote the Capital I without prompting

The Letter I sound

Pleasant surprise from my therapy kit

I Items

Enjoying I for Ice Cream!